Give us about three years

I was going to speculate on how worthless a human-appearing life form has to be to ruin Christmas for an eight-year-old already on the cusp of not believing in Santa Claus, but what's the point?  Let's spend some time with good thoughts.  Vituperation will resume on Monday.

Ahmed al-Ahmed, the hero of Bondi Beach, is still recuperating in a Sydney hospital, where he was astonished when Zachery Dereniowski presented him with a check for $1.65 million dollars, $2.5 million in Australian dollars.  "I deserve it?" he asked.  Dereniowski is described as a Canadian YouTuber and social media influencer who tries to get people to be kind to one another, and who got over 43,000 people to contribute to a GoFundMe.  Al-Ahmed's medical bills are comped by the Australian people but he has two young children and can certainly use the money.  

In addition, more than 20,000 Australians queued for hours to donate blood after the attack.  One man who is O-negative (universal donor) said he plans to do so often from now on.  A great evil has been answered with compassion.

Palau is a tiny island halfway between Guam and the Philippines which was a US territory from 1944 until gaining independence in 1994.  In return for $7.5 million for "relevant public services" it has agreed to accept 75 deportees from the US.  It's far from perfect but a lot better than Rwanda or CECOT.  When normality returns, perhaps they can come home.

Speaking of normality, Jimmy Kimmel delivered a Christmas message to Britain and the world of the sort we used to have.  If you're paywalled out of the Guardian you can read it here.  "We are not bright.  We're Americans," he concludes.  "No one knows better than you we're always just a little bit late to the game, but do we come through in the end?  Maybe.  Give us about three years.  Please...Merry Christmas and happy holidays."  No calling people "sleazebags," no self-aggrandizement, no attempts to rewrite his documented history with child rapists...

...it was refreshing.  I said I would accentuate the positive but it has to be noted that the "peace candidate" celebrated Christmas by approving (I assume) a bombing attack on Islamic State in Nigeria, supposedly to protect Christians.  ("MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists," he tweeted happily).  

For more than twenty years the Kennedy Center presented a jazz concert on Christmas Eve, but after Trump seized the place and nailed his name up over Kennedy's it was cancelled by musician and organizer Chuck Redd.  Do the Trumpanzees want him "fired"?  Guess.

The Kennedy Center Honors has never been a ratings behemoth but the Trump-Kennedy version managed to lower them to a level never seen before, as Dear Leader would say -- 2.65 million against last year's 4.1 million.  I guess he won't be abdicating to become a full-time emcee.  Sad.  Maybe Stephen Miller could do the honors next year.

"We are respected again, perhaps like never before," he thumbed, blind to the logical impossibility.  On behalf of all us Radical Left Scum, it's been a privilege to witness the collapse of your brain into a puddle of tapioca as your legs bloat like dead seals on a beach.  And many more.